Photos of Prambanan, reconstructed ruins of a 9th century Hindu temple complex located near Yogyakarta on Java Island (Indonesia).­

The temples that can be seen today at the site are structures reconstructed in 1920-1930 with mostly new stones, since the original ruins was looted centuries ago and used as a source of construction stone by the surrounding villages.­ Restoration and reconstruction efforts are still going on.­

I sometimes do HDR processing from a single RAW exposure, since my camera has about 6-stop dynamic range in RAW mode.­ This is the only possible way when shooting a moving subject.­

For those wondering about the technical part, here is some information about my workflow for producing tone-mapped HDR images from a single RAW exposure:

- The RAW image is used to generate 3 images using exposure compensation with Photoshop using Adobe Camera Raw: -2EV, 0EV and +2EV.­ This allows to capture about the entire dynamic range stored in the RAW file.­ You could also use Lightroom to do that too, or any software than can process those RAW files.­ In my case, I need to first convert the RAW files into DNG format (using the standalone Adobe CameraRaw Converter) because the version of Camera Raw that I can use with my Photoshop is not compatible with the RAW format of my (recent) camera.­ But you don't need to go through the DNG step if you have the latest Adobe software.­

- The 3 images (-2EV, 0EV and +2EV) are then merged into one HDR image using Photomatix (you could also use Photoshop to do that).­ This is basically an automatic process with no parameters to adjust.­

- The HDR image is then processed with Tone Mapping to obtain a displayable image.­ I use Photomatix for the tone mapping.­ There are many knobs that can be adjusted, but in general I use the default setting and I increase the color saturation value in the Tone Mapping dialog.­ I then save the resulting tone-mapped image in TIFF format.­

- I then correct Chromatic Aberrations using the free and automatic Photoshop plugin from Photoacute, which works very well most of the times.­

- I then use standard photoshop layers to do the usual final adjustments (Level, Curve, Saturation, Color Balance).­

If you like these photos, don't hesitate to leave a comment or email me.

Most public transportation in the center of the city is done with cycle rickshaws and horse carriages.­ Locals seem to be very attached to those traditional (and environment friendly) modes of transportation.­

Private transportation is mostly by motorcycle, like in the rest of Indonesia.­ There is no legal limit to the number of passengers per motorbike, but you rarely see more than 5 people on a bike.­

Jogja was the starting point of my 2-month motorcycle trip around Indonesia (Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa and Flores Islands).­ This is here that I rented a motorcycle (a Honda Supra 125cc semi-auto for $65 a month).­ But before hitting the road, I spent a week in Jogja, a lively city that has a very unique atmosphere and a lot of traditions.­